Counter for blanks.



E. G. STAUDE.

COUNTER FOR BLANKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY7. 1912 1L 1 5415125 1 D Patented Sept 21, 1915.

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E. G. STAUDE.

COUNTER FOR BLANKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY7. 1912.

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APPLICATION FILED 'MAY 7. 1912.

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3 SHEETS SHEET 3 Wm W 3. i W x M r i v 5 2 Mam 354 EDWIN GUSTAVE s'raunn, or MINNEAPOLIS, Mrnnnsorn.

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Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 21, 1915.,

Application filed May 7,1912. Serial No. 695,718.

To all whom it may concern.

1 Beit known that I,-EDWII G. STAUDnof -.Minneapolis, Hennepin county, Minnesota,

have invented certain new and useful In provements in Gounters for Blanks, of which the following is a specification.

Myiinvention relates to counting devices for blanks'of various kinds, such as flexible box blanks,'and envelop blanks, and the ob ject of the invention is to simplify and improvethe apparatus shown and described in thereon which meshes with a piston 11 that .is carried by a bracket or hanger 12. The

my pending application for Letters Patent of the United States, Serial No. 522,198, filed October 11, 1909.

'The invention'consist s generally in various constructions and combinationsall as hereinafter described and particularly pointed out'in the-claims." p

In the accompanying drawings forming partof'this specification, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a blank forming ,machinewith my improved'counting mechanism mounted thereon, Fig. 2 is a detail sectional View showing the side elevation of i the counting mechanism and'the means fqr operating the counter disk, Fig. 3 1s a detail view of thelmechanism removed from'the machine, showing the. means actuated by the passage of a blank for operating the escapelid ment mechanism, Fig. Lisa detail sectional view showing the crank-on which the blank vice, such as a belt 6, and 7 is a spiral by.

means of which the blanks are fed into the hopper from the bottom. This-hopper and the feeding means therefor are shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,018,087, issued to me February 20, 1912.

8 is the device I prefer to employ for indenting the pile of blanks, that is, retarding one or more of them at predetermined in-- tervals to divide the pile into groups, each of a predetermined number of blanks. This indentin device is shown and described in Letters Tatent of the United States, No. 361,263, issued to me June 14, 1910.

The counting mechanism in a general way, particularly the parts actuated by the passage of a blank, is substantially thesame as that shownrand described in-my pending application above referred to, my present invention relating to features which are designed to simplify and improve the mechanism of said application with a view of .making the counter more eflicient and more reliable. I

9'is 'a transverse shaft having a gear 10 pinion 11 meshes with a pinion 13 secured on a Shaft 14' that is journaled inthe bracket 12 and has a roller 15 secured thereon. The roller 15 is provided at one end with a series of teeth 16 meshing with teeth 17 of a roller 18 that is preferably smaller than the roller 15 and provided with a narrower face and is mounted on'a shaft19 carried by a crank 20 which is secured we rock shaft 21 journaled in the bracket 12. An idle gear 22 is mounted on the shaft- 21 and meshes with the pinion 13 and is driven thereby and the hub of said idle gear has a; worm 23- thereon -meshing with a worm gear 24 that is secured to the lower end of an upright shaft 25 which also has bearings in the bracket 12;

(See Fig. 2.) r The feed belts 3'and 4 pass around pulleys or wheels 26 and 27 on the shafts 9 and 28 and deliver the blanks to the rolls 15 and 18, as will hereinafter appear. The upper portion of the bracket 12 has a horizon'tal extension forming a flange 29 and a slide 30 is arranged to reciprocate on'said flange and is provided with an opening 31 to receive the shaft 25 and a hub 32 that is secured to the said shaftand is provided at its upper end with a disk 33. This disk has an upper bearing plate 34 secured to the disk by rivets or other suitable means and near the upper end of the shaft a disk 35 is mounted to slide on said shaft by means of a feather or spline 36, and is provided on its under surface with a bearing plate corresponding to the one described. A spring 37 holds the disk' 35 downward with a yielding pressure, the tension of the spring being regulated by an adjusting nut 38. A ratchet wheel 39 is interposed between the disks 33 and 35 and a plate 40 is secured to said wheel by screws or other suitable means and has.

a peripheral cam surface 41 terminatin in a shoulder 42 upon which a lug 43 is pre .erably mounted. The ratchet wheel and plate 41 are free to turn on the shaft 25 against the fric tional engagement of the bearing plates 34 therewith, the degree of this frictional engagement being regulated by the tension of the spring 37. The slide 30 is free to move a limited distance,- and upon this slide I mount lugs 44 and 45 provided with wedge-shaped faces 46 and 47 which are adapted to pass between the teeth of the ratchet wheel. The distance between the inner edges of thesewedge-shaped faces is less than the diameter of the ratchetwheel and consequently when one wedge face is moved out'of engagemetn with a tooth of the ratchet wheel, the opposite wedge face will be moved into engagement with a tooth on the opposite side of the wheel, as shown plainly in Fig. 6, thus constituting in effect, an es: capement mechanism to control the movement of the ratchet wheel.

From an examination of Fig. 6 it will be evident that the continuously revolving shaft will form a positive drive for the disks 33 and and the frictional engagement of. the bearing plates of these disks with the ratchet wheel will operate it i also. with a step-by-step movement when the slide 30 is reciprocated, the wheel moving one step or tooth with each stroke of the slide. To operate the slide I prefer to provide a lug 48 thereon at one end fitting within a recess 49 formed inthe jaws 50 of a lever 51. r The end of this lever is preferably split to form the jaws and is provided with an adjusting bolt 52 passing through the jaws and by means of which the walls of the recess 49 springs 57 are connected to the ends of said pin. These springs-allow the lever .51 to swing on its pivotand accommodate itself.

without changing its stroke to any variation in the thickness 1 of the blanks passing betweenthe rollers'15 and 18. An adjusting screw 58 is mounted in the arm 53 and engages the lower portion of the lever 51 for the purpose of adjusting it, and regulating the movement of the slide 30. The arm 53 is rocked by the movement of theroll 18 when a blank passes between it and the roll 15 against the tension of a spring 59.

60-.is a lever pivoted at 61 and connected at its lower end to a tension spring 62 which tends td pull the upper end of the lever 60 in toward the ratchet wheel and hold the arm 63 carried by said lever in contact with the peripheral cam surface 41 on the plate 40. v The upper end of the lever 60 has. a stud 64 mounted therein provided with a socket in which a rod 65 is adjustable lengthwise by means of a set screw 66. The stud is also capable of rotation in its bearings in the lever to raise or lower the end of the rod 65 for'convenience of attachment to the part 8, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Normally the rod 65 will hold the part 8 out of the path of the blanks, the arm 63 riding on the cam surface of the disk 41, but when the arm 63 reaches the shoulder 42 and drops ofl" the high part of the cam the tension of the spring 62 will pull the rod 65 lengthwise and'swing the part 8 into the path of the incoming blanks, retarding one or more of them and forming an inset in the pile of blanks.

The lever 60 operates with each revolution of the ratchet wheel and the number of teeth in the ratchet wheel determines, therefore, the time of operation of this lever. I prefer to provide twenty-five ofthem sothat the lever 60 will operate the retarding mechanism and divide the pile bf blanks into groups of twenty-fiv which number can be handled conveniently. Of course, the operation" 'ofthe retarding mechanism can be modified to increase or decrease the number of blanks in each group.

I also prefer to provide a registering device in connectionwith the counter indicated at 67 and provided with a star wheel 68 in the path of the lug 43, so that with each revolution of the ratchet wheel the lug will operate the star wheel and the registering mechanism. The slide 30 is limited in its reciprocating movement by the engagement of a shoulder 69 formed on the slide with the end walls of a recess 7 0 in the flange. 29, and a lug 71 formed on the end of the slide'is adapted to contact with the edge of the flange, thereby positively limiting the stroke of the slide in both directions. Feed rollers 72 and 73 are located near the rollers 15 and 18 to receive the blanks therefrom .and ,direct them to the hopper feeding belt.

In the operation of the device, the blanks are fed between the rolls 15 and 18 by the feed belts 3 and 4 and the passage of the blanks between the rolls will rock the crank 20 and oscillate the arm 53 to move the lever 51 outwardly. 'The outward movement of this lever will withdraw'the lug 45 from engagement with a tooth of the ratchet wheel and the same movement will move the lug 44 into engagement with a ratchet wheel tooth. It is evident from an examination of Fig. 7 that the lug 44 will engage the face of the ratchet wheel tootli corresponding to the face of the tooth on the outer side of the wheel engagedbythe lug. 45, and as the ratchet wheel turns in from the wheel to allow it to be turned that,

' it will be free to revolve a sufiicient distance before engaging the lug 44 to allow the lug 45 to enter the. next notch in the wheel on its return stroke. The revolution of the wheel having been completed, the

counter mechanism will operate in the manner described and actuate the indenting device to retard the blanks and divide the pile into groups, each of a predetermined number of blanks.

I claim as my invention: 7

. 1.- The combination, with a ratchet wheel, and means for operating the same, of a slide having lugs to engage the teeth of said wheel, a lever pivotally connected with said slide, a. rocking arm having a recess wherein said lever is pivoted at a point intermediate to its ends, means yieldingly resisting the oscillation of said lever in said recess, means for positively limiting the stroke of said lever, and means actuated by the passage of a blank for rocking said arm.

2. The combination, with a standard having a flanged upper end and a shaft journaled therein, of a ratchet wheel loosely mounted on said shaft, means secured on said shaft and having frictional engagement with said ratchet wheel for turning the same, a slide arranged to reciprocate on said flanged end and having lugs to engage the teeth of said ratchet wheel, and means actuated by the movement of a blank for reciprocating said slide .to alternately engage said lugs with the teeth of said wheel.

3. In a counting mechanism comprising rotatable members one-of which has continuous movement and the other intermittent movement, stop-mechanism for holding the intermittently moving member and including a pawl and ratchet escapement operatively connected with the intermittently moving member, and means adapted to be operated by a box-blank and operatively connected with the pawl and ratchet escapement to engage one pawl of the es-. capement with the ratchet as the other pawl is disengaged from the ratchet, substantially as described.

4. In a counting mechanism comprising rotatable members one of which has continuous movement and the other intermittent movement, stop-mechanism for holding the intermittently moving member and including a ratchet wheel connected with the intermittently moving member and a slidable bar having teeth to alternately engage the ratchet wheel, and means adapted to be actuated by a box-blank and operatively connected with said bar to reciprocate the same to bring its teeth in alternation into engagement with the ratchet, substantially as described.

5. In a counting mechanism comprising rotatable members, stop-mechanism for holding one of said members from continuous movement and including a pawl and ratchet escapement operatively connected with said member, a pair of continuously uous movement and including a pawl and ratchet escapement operatively connected wlth said member, parallel shafts each 'carrying a revoluble roll, one of said shafts being a crank-shaft and ooeratively connected 7 with the pawl and ratchet escapement to engage one pawl of the escapement with the ratchet as the other pawl is disengaged from the ratchet, a pinion and worm mounted on the crank-shaft, and an upright shaft connected with said rotatable members and provided, with a worm-gear meshing with the worm of the crank-shaft, substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I have hereuntoset my hand this 2nd day of 'May, 1912.

EDWIN GUSTAVE STAUDE.

Witnesses:

EDWARD A. PAUL, C. H. REHFUss. 

